Nanotechnology in everyday life

How Nanotechnology is Portrayed in Video Games – The Metal Gear Solid Saga

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"The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big." – Richard Feynman

In Metal Gear Solid 4, an advanced battlefield control network called "Sons of the Patriots" monitors and enhances the performance of soldiers deployed in combat via nanomachines injected in their body. Octo-camo, a form of smart camouflage, can replicate both the pattern and texture of any surface it comes in contact with. Even with the rapid development of modern nanotechnology, it all sounds little bit far-fetched doesn't it? What if I told you it wasn't?

The origins of Nano

Something big (or rather small) took place at Caltech University on December 29th, 1959. Physicist Richard Feynman spoke for the first time about the manipulation of matter on a very small scale. He discussed the possibility of handling individual atoms in a highly controlled manner, which inspired the beginnings of a new and fascinating field of study known as nanotechnology.

What Exactly is Nanotechnology?

Simply put nanotechnology deals with things that are very small. To put it into context, nano-sized particles are 50, 000 times smaller than a human hair. The nano-scale is home to microscopic particles such as viruses, DNA, and proteins. For the last 20 years or so, scientists have been busy producing synthetic nanoparticles for a wide variety of applications, and can now found in over 500 consumer products, ranging from socks to makeup. Nanotechnology is quickly becoming an inescapable part of modern everyday life.

Nanotechnology in Popular Fiction

Due to the growing awareness of nanotechnology by the general public, nanomaterials are becoming more common in popular works of fiction as well. Nanotechnology is often incorporated to explain unrealistic events and promote the suspension of disbelief, appearing in a number of books, television, film and more recently in videogames. Of all the videogames dealing with nanotechnology, Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4 is the undisputed king.

"It is a staggeringly small world that is below. In the year 2000, when they look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not until the year 1960 that anybody began seriously to move in this direction." – Richard Feynman

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4 (MGS4) takes place in 2014, following the development of a worldwide war economy, fought by private military companies. Elite units of soldiers are injected with nanomachines that grant them enhanced abilities and combat effectiveness. These nanomachines carry out a wide range of functions, forming an integrated battlefield control network called "Sons of the Patriots". As the player progresses through the game, they learn a little bit more about the military technologies of the near future and discover that they rely heavily on nanotechnology. Although frequently mentioned, the story does not explicitly describe how the nanomachines theoretically work. Let's take a look at some of the current research going on in the field and see which applications of nanotechnology in Metal Gear are fantasy, and which are not so far-fetched.

The Invisible Future: The Seamless Integration of Technology Into Everyday LifeBook (McGraw-Hill Companies)

Prince warns against new 'thalidomide' disaster

by bongo_billy

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
11 July 2004
The Prince of Wales warns today that thalidomide-style disasters could result from a startling new technology about to revolutionise industrial and everyday life.
Writing exclusively in today's Independent on Sunday, the Prince sounds the alarm on the little-known science of nanotechnology, which manipulates materials one-millionth the size of a pinhead. Already a $10bn (£5.4bn) business, it is expected to provoke the next big scientific controversy after genetic modification.
In the Prince's first public intervention on the subject, he calls on those promoting the technology to show "significantly greater social awareness, humility and openness" than they did over GM

Agreed, completely

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Except I forsee nanotechnology to be mostly fraudulent, playing on what happens in chemistry everyday in the past to this point in time. All chemistry in a cell is "nanotechnology." A self-assembling molecule is not "nanotechnology" it is actually "Nature" is it has been for as long as life has been around.
What people conceive of us "nanotechnology" does not exist yet. It is the artificially intelligent molecules that react to each other or to external molecules in a pre-defined fashion in a way more complex than nature can provide. This definition automatically excludes synthetic large and small agonist-ligand or antagonist-ligand molecules, synthetic peptides, self-assembling peptides, self-assembling fibers, and includes those molecular systems that actively assemble...